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Anyone who knows me has heard me sing the praises of Margaret Peterson Haddix. Her Shadow Children series has hooked many reluctant readers and turned them into voracious readers in my classroom. When I saw that she was beginning a new series, I was very excited. I just finished reading Found (The Missing) and I LOVED it. The plot is difficult to summarize without giving away too much, but I will try.

A plane that appears out of nowhere. Thirty-six babies mysteriously on the plane. No pilot, not crew, no adult passengers. Then, just as suddenly, the plane disappears.

Thirteen-year-old Jonah has always known that he was adopted, and he’s never thought it was any big deal. In fact, his parents spend more time thinking about it than he does (hence their bookshelves full of “adoption books). That all changes when he and his friend, Chip, also adopted, start receiving strange, anonymous letters. The first one says, “You are one of the missing.” The second one says, “Beware! They’re coming back to get you.”

Jonah, Chip, and Jonah’s sister, Katherine, are plunged into a mystery that involves the FBI, a possible baby- smuggling operation, that same airplane that appeared out of nowhere — and maybe even ghosts. The kids discover they are caught in a battle between two opposing sides that want very different things for Jonah and Chip’s lives.

This series promises to be just as good, if not better, than Shadow Children . The Missing is a pageturner with twists and turns you will never see coming. The next book isn’t due out until Spring 2009 and I am already dying to read it! Margaret Peterson Haddix is sure to draw in many more reluctant readers with this speculative fiction series. I can’t sing its praises enough!!